Some Important Treasure Hunting Ideas

Modern day treasure hunting is an interesting and potentially lucrative hobby. It has been around for a long time in one form or another even since before the fabled days of pirates searching for buried treasure. Experience has demonstrated some principles and practical tips that can be of value for any treasure hunter. Here are a few:

Choose Your Metal Detecting Spots Carefully
Clearly one of the most important things to think about when treasure hunting is where to look. Oddly enough, modern day buried or hidden treasure may be more common than you think. People routinely store valuables either by burying them or by hiding them in out of the way places such as attics, basements, garages, barns and so on. Often these people either forget to come retrieve the items, go to jail for some crime, or die, leaving the items unaccounted for. So places where valuable items may be intentionally buried are good places to start (provided, of course, you can get legal access to them).
Here are a few more such places where treasure may be purposely hidden:

• In house and building crawl spaces

• Above ceiling tiles

• Under patios

• In Gardens

• Under rocks beside driveways

• In pump houses

• In outhouses

• In antique heating oil tanks

• Under rocks in rest areas beside highways
• Note: this location is often used by criminals hiding valuables.

• Under shed floors

• In walls behind switch and outlet plates

With a little imagination you can think of more such locations. Simply imagine that you want to hide some treasure where you hope no one will look.

Another type of location to consider is one where there is, and has been in the past, a lot of traffic. Beaches, parks, parking lots, abandoned bus or train stations, and abandoned buildings are some such places. Try to find locales where nobody will mind you if you treasure hunt and where there has been a sustained amount of human activity for an extended period (i.e. years or decades).
There may even be places where concentrated human activity goes back much further, such as Native American sites. You can check with knowledgeable people (park rangers, Native Americans, university professors, and so on) or with books and websites to find the best spots to find either Native American artifacts or early American pottery and so on.

Don’t Search Too Large an Area
It is better to concentrate and thoroughly explore one area for a number of reasons. First off searching too large an area will make you prone to going fast and skipping potentially interesting areas. Also, if you are searching with a metal detector, you have only so much battery power, and your battery may run out before you cover the area with any thoroughness. Thirdly, you will get tired faster from covering too much distance and you will be more prone to error. Go slowly and carefully search a relatively small area before moving on.

Get a beach metal detector for beach use
Many people treasure search on beaches, especially using metal detectors, because a lot of valuables are dropped there. However, all metal detectors are not alike – some are designed for beach use and others are not. Many times treasure is found in shallow water, and the salt in water can affect the functioning of a metal detector that is not designed to withstand it. Beach metal detectors are meant to be used both on land and in salt water, so these are the one that you should use for beach treasure hunting.

Use caution when digging something up
If you do find something and see only a little piece of it showing in the ground or in the water, use caution when unearthing it. Items in the ground may be damaged if you try to dig them up too roughly.

Keep Metal detectors clean
Metal detectors can get dirty, sandy, or dusty skimming over the ground for long periods. They should be wiped off with a clean dry rag to keep these dirt particles from accumulating.

Treasure hunting is a fun activity and a potentially lucrative one. If you have enough know how to go about it right, you have the best chances of success. These and other tips from experienced treasure hunters can point you in the right direction for your treasure hunting expeditions.